… random observations from my journeys through a well-lived life

June 10, 2014 – Stepping out

Posted on June 10, 2014

Grrrr. What a day it has been. Until just now, I haven’t been able to log onto my WordPress website. My mail has been as reliable as spring rain in the dessert. I’m afraid to hit ‘save draft’ right now in case I get a dreaded ‘500 Internal Server Error’. If there’s no post tomorrow, it’s because I can’t *&^%$ log on. Here goes.

I did 9,149 steps today. Man, was it a lot of work. But I got a lot of thinking done.

The walk at lunchtime was fine because it wasn’t too hot and I found another stash of rocks that will be suitable for my dry stream feature in the front garden. I wandered over to the Maple Rendeers (odd name for a construction company) Atco by the new Bulk Barn Headquarters down the road from work. Two older guys wearing white ‘boss’ hard hats were hanging over the railing having a chat. As I swanned up dressed in my snazzy turquoise sweater set and green swinging skirt with black sneakers and purple ankle socks, I asked them if it would be okay if I brought my truck around some weekend and picked up the loose rocks lying around. They looked at each other then stared at me as if I had a screw loose, then shook their heads and said, ‘Have at ‘er.’ Which I took to mean that I can take whatever I can find. Just to be sure, I asked if there were any rules about picking up stones form the side of the road. Again, they gave me that ‘crazy lady’ look and said, no. I’ll round up the grandchildren (or my grandson at least. My granddaughter at 14 might be too hoity-toity to suit up in work clothes and go rock picking with grandma!)

We had a library board meeting tonight to brainstorm about fund-raising. I walked there, too since it’s just up the street. We didn’t get too much brainy stuff done. You see, the town will grow by several thousand homes within the next 10 years and we need new libraries. And $1.2 million dollars has to be raised. What’s frustrating is that we could mount something grand like a gals or an art and music show with food and booze, but the suggestions were for things like silent auctions and kids paying a quarter to guess how many marbles are in a jar. Not bad ideas fir sure, but it would take us eons to raise the kind of cash we need to build a legacy maker-space community hub. I’m learning to keep my mouth shut and not volunteer for these projects anymore. Make a few suggestions, then let others run with it. Looking around the table I saw a group of well-intentioned retired people. We don’t have networks. Don’t know folks with deep pockets. We need a plan, a concept that potential donors can buy into. We don’t even have the land, although the Town keeps assuring us that there will be land.

It all reminds me of Panama, when Hub and I went to look for vacation property. The developers would exhort us to ‘visualize a ten-story condo with a pool and wide glassed-in balconies and maid service’. Yes, in the middle of a rain forest choked with stumps and snakes. Sorry Manuel, but I’ll keep my hands in my pockets, thank you very much. Selling a dream is hard, but when you’re working with small visions, it is even more difficult.